Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-12-17
A CENTURY OF LAW.
"A Address Del:yertd by Judge Dillon
O, New York Before The Alabama
Bar Association.
improvements Made in tho Structure OF
,ur Me.sivs Imposing, Ever Advanc-
ing bus Imperfhabie JarisPrudence.

MONTGOMERY, ALA, Dec. 16.-The
I,kbsma State Bar Association met here
.ss night. The annual address was de-
lgvered By Judge JUhn T. Dillon of New
Work. He said that SIS it was the cent? n
,sl of the adoption of the Federal consti-
3ution he had selected SIS his subject "a
century of American Law After re =
Inspection of the general situation and
I.oriup to a view of the condition of En-
,Iiss and American law 100 years ago, he
lid IL was the time which produced
r,ckstone commentaries, the FIRST COM
,I,ted edition Of which was published
LIST ak years before the American h vo-
|,tiez. After adverting TO the baneful
.s.cts of the feudsl system upon the
r,.lish, part of which We had esc ped, he
,oticed the folio wing changes upon SUD-
tets of general and permanent import
rce WITHIN the century: Imprisonment
tor sess had been abolished, Doth In Great
rdssin and Americs, and in this leglsla-
|usn In America had led The way. BY Way
| At contrast he alluded to the modern pre-
,mntion and homes cad laws of
I@e several states OF the nstion.
Iu,der the benefceut operation OF the
after act more than loo, 600. 900 acres Of
land had been entered by $50 600 he ads Of
families. BE next adverted TO the great
md bepeficent changes made within the
| .,t ffty years in respect of the right Of
r,rrled women. The principle OF Ameri-
can married woman's protection was in
|lTs and 1882 adopted oy the E lgnsn
Parliament. r ferriDg to the criminal
law of England Loo years ago he
showed that al that time near y
1 200 of.pses were capital felonies
and tlst the laws were otherwise Cppres-
dive and severe. They have been grad
x,lly amended. At this time four of
iesses ere cspitaly punishable in En-
ssnd and only TWO in this country. ID =
noticed the abolition Of common law
iofns and the changes made oY the codes
Of procedure in this country and
Nv the British juoicature of
1877, adopting the principle OF
the American CODES as among the mos!
s.lu.ary in the law forms. lamentations
in the law of evidence by which all per-
sopE, including parties to suit, have been
made competent witnesses, were regarded
asa great improvement in legal admins
trstion in which EUeland had led the way
ssd we had followed. The growth OF
generations was dwelt upon ct length,
and statistics given showing that nearly
one. half of the modern reported cases IT,
yclve corporation law. He next traced
the growth of legal literature in this
country. A century ago we
had no American law books; in
1886 we had published 1888
volumes of reports against 5000 in Eug.
land Turning to the century to come,
be predicted many changes In the laws,
among which would be the abolition OF
literary piracy and systematic Iestste
ment of the body OF our laws. he ap
pealed to the young men tc
take up this great work, an6
coStluded By ssyipg: "Msyhsps some
young man hears me TO-DAY, gifted be-
yond the common lot with an sye couched
to that higher and wider sweep that will
take in sll the constructive possibilities
Of the rich and scattered materials OF our
laws, and be so fortunate as TO leave upon
the massive, imposing, ever advancing,
bat imperishsoie structure OF our luris'
prEdencs some visible imprint, some en-
bodied memorial of his genius as well as
his labors